RJ Seeks to Add 23 Planes to its Fleet – Report

July 9, 2018 /
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Royal Jordanian is in talks with plane manufacturers to add up to 23 narrow-body aircraft to its fleet, the carrier’s CEO Stefan Pichler told The National.

“We are now in the process of a fleet rollover in the short-haul … we are in negotiations with all the four suppliers Boeing, Airbus, Embraer and Bombardier in order to get the best offer for us to renew the fleet,” Pichler said. “We will make a decision on which supplier to go with by the end of September this year.”

The carrier plans to purchase four aircrafts and lease the remaining two-thirds, which will be replacements for the airline’s current fleet of 19 short-haul planes, Pichler said. The carrier also has seven long-haul craft.

RJ returned to profit in 2017 for the first time in more than a decade. The airline achieved a net operating profit of JD5.4 million in the first nine months of the year, compared to a net loss of JD2.7 million in the same period of 2016. The number of passengers who flew with RJ over the same period rose 5 percent to 955,000.

RJ plans to open additional routes in the next five years to Washington, Copenhagen, Stockholm and Kyrenia in Cyprus. It will also work to resume flying to Damascus, Mosul, Sana’a, Aden and Benghazi.